reynolds



(No Model.) l

G. H. REYNOLDS.

BLBVATOB..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

GEORGE I-I. REYNOLDS, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN ELEOTRIO ELEVATOR COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ELEVATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters -Patent No. 458,429, dated August 25, 1891.

Application filed December 27, 1890. Serial No. 3751948 (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: the hoistway shortened. Fig. 3 shows the Be it known that I, GEORGE H. REYNOLDS, car in its highest and the balance-weight in a citizen of the United States, residing in the its lowest position, and Fig` et shows these city and county of New York, in the State of conditions reversed.

5 New York, have invented a certain new and Similar letters of reference indicate oorre- 5 5 useful Improvement in Elevator-Operating sponding parts in all the figures where they Mechanism, of which the following is a speciappear. ication. A is the inclosing wallof the hoistway; A',

The improvement is intended more para iioor, and A2 the bed-plate of the 1neohan ro tioularly for passengerelevators in hotels, ism, which is arranged in the top of the ele- 6o ofce buildings, dsc.; but it may be used with vator-Well or hoistway. advantage in elevators for carrying freight B is the car; O, the balance-weight; D and and passengers in manufactories and in other E,the ropes which connect, respectively, to the situations, as mines, wherever it is possible car and weight, and Gthe drum on which the to place the hoisting apparatus above the load ropes are wound and unwound as the car is 65 to be raised. In the most complete developraised and lowered. ment of the invention I drive the elevator by On the axis of the drum G is a worm-wheel an electric motor and arrange the entire G. (See Fig. l.) It is engaged by a worm mechanism at the top of the hoistway, with a H, which, when the elevator is worked, is ro- 2o resulting economy in space occupied and in tated alternately in one direction and the other 7o the quantity of rope exposed to wear'in raisby a rotary electric motor I. This motormay ing and lowering the car and the balancebe adynamo with a reversed action with proweight. I have devised an arrangement of visions for controlling it by a cord or cords the ropes which allows the drum to be reextending up and down.

duced in diameter or in length, or both, to I do not confine myself to an electromo- 75 serve for a given height of elevator and also tor, as I may use any other power, such as a to counterbalance the weight of` the car and di'rect-actingsteam-engine or bybelting from any portion of the load to be carried in the shafting. car. This is accomplished by attaching the There are two ropes D, which connect from 3o counterbalance cables directly to the drum the drumtothecanandtwo ropesE,which con- 8o instead of to the car, as is usually done. By neet from the drum to the weight. Each is a my peculiar arrangement of cables I do not Vcounterpart of the other and wound in the oprequire any sheaves or extra mechanism to posite direction on the drum. A description of carry the counterweight cables, but at all one of the ropes D and the corresponding rope times lift directly upon the weight and upon E will suiice for both. The periphery of the 8 5 the car, and the cables always lead fairly drum is grooved helically, the groove being into the grooves on the drum. of sufiicient size to accommodate one turn of The accompanying drawings form a part of the rope D, which hoists and lowers the car this specification and represent what I con- B, or one turn of the rope E, which hoists 4o sider the best means of carrying out the inand lowers the balance-weight C. I arrange 9o vention. that the same groove shall serve alternately Figure l is a side elevation showing the for the hoisting-rope D and the weight-rope part-s at the top and bottom of the hoistway, E. Suppose the hoist-rope D to be alone atthe middle portion, which may be of any detached at first at the proper part ot' the drum.

sired length, being cut outto save space. The car is at the bottom of its course and the 95 Fig. 2 is a plan view of the hoisting meohanlong rope is nearly all out. NOW revolve the ism with a horizontal section through the indrum in the proper direction and wind the closing-walls. Figs. 3 and e are diagrams' several turns of the hoist-rope D and hoist illustrating the act-ion of the cable and drum. the car until it is nearly at its highest point 5o They are face views on a larger scale with and this helical groove in the drum is nearly ico filled. Now attach by inserting in a proper hole in thesmall portion of the groove which remains unfilled the rope E and let it extend downwardv from the opposite side of the drum and connect the weight C, which is under these conditions at the bottom of its course. Now revolve the drum in the direction to lower the car and it will hoist the weight, and the successive coils of the weight-rope E as they are accumulated on the drum will each lie in the portion of the groove which has just been vacated by the unwinding of the hoist-.rope D. When the car is down, the weight will be up, and nearly the whole of the weight-rope E will be held in the same groove which a brief period before held nearly the whole of the hoist-rope D. Reverse the motion of the drum again and the weight will move down, laying bare turn after turn of the groove in the drum, and the hoistrope D will closely follow, it, filling each turn. As soon as any portion of the groove is emptied of the weight-rope it will be filled with the hoist-rope. There need not be but a half-turn of the groove empty between the Vpoint where one rope is being delivered olf in line with the helical groove, as shown bythe strong lines in Fig. et.

The two weight-ropes E E are attached to the weight at points near together. When the weight is up, the short lengths of rope therefrom stand slightly inclined, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4. When the weightis down, the ropes E extend to points near the ends of the drum and are similarly inclined, the inclination (shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3) being always in line with the rope-grooves on the drum.

By reason of the fact that the drum is at the top and that the cables extend direct to the car and Weight respectively I save much length of cable exposed to Wear, and reduce the .cost and friction due to the employment of the several pulleys for changing the direction of the cable, and byv reason of the fact that the cables extend in lines tangential to the helical grooves 011 the drum in all parts of the course of the car and weight I insure that the cables are self-guided in being wound on and Without friction in being unwound.

Modifications may be made without departing from the principle or sacrificing the advantages of the invention. I can dispense with the grooves in the drum and wind and unwind the cables from a smooth cylindrical drum; but in such case the effect of the invention, used either with or without traversing-guides, is the same as described, the cables being each Wound on and off in t-he 'line eX- actly coinciding with that which lies in its helical coils on the drum. I can use a single pair of cables, by which I mean only one hoisting and one balance-Weight cable, but with such there would be a slight lateral force on the car and weight. Vtith the two, as shown, there is no such disturbing force.

I claim as my inventionl. In elevating mechanism, a hoisting-drum mounted at the top of the hoistway, with suitable operating means therefor, in combination with a hoisting-cable and a counterweight-cable wound thereon in opposite directions and close together, so that the cables alternately occupy the same place in winding on and paying off, substantially as herein specified.

2. In elevating mechanism, ahoisting-drunl mounted at the top of the hoistway, with suitable operating means therefor, in combination with two hoisting-cables attached to the car and two counterWeight-cables with suitable counter-Weight therefor wound on said drum in the manner shown, one pair of cables being attached near the mid-length and winding toward the ends, respectively, and the other pair being attached toward the center, respectively, all arranged for joint operation substantially as herein specified.

3. In elevating mechanism, ahoisting-drum mounted at the top of the hoistway, with suitable operating means therefor, in combination with a hoisting-cable and a counterweight-cable Wound thereon in opposite directions, and attached, respectively, the one near the center and the other near the outer edge, so that in winding and unwinding the cables are drawn at an angle coincident with that in which they are laid on the drum, substantially as herein specified.

4. In apparatus for operating elevators, the combination,withthecageandcounter-weight, of the drum G, located near the top of the elevator-shaft, having helical grooves adapted to be occupied alternately by the hoisting and counterweight cables, worm-wheel G', moving withv said drum, worm H, meshing with said worm-wheel, and a motor for actuating the worm, all arranged to operate substantially in the manner and for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I claim the invention above set forth I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEC. H. REYNOLDS.

Wi tn esses:

DORA REINERS, FRANK CREELMAN.

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